


Makeup

by Coal



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2015-11-14
Packaged: 2018-05-01 12:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5206058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coal/pseuds/Coal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>2014, in a timeline where Dark Phantom is still running amuck, Paulina finds some makeup.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Makeup

2014, Wastelands of Minnesota 

Dark Phantom could at any moment appear and eviscerate her, but Paulina had found a small compact in the kitchen and after she couldn't think of anything else. She upturned the bowl that had been beside the compact and frowned when only the wax fruit and some loose change were revealed. Paulina went to the kitchen drawers after, then straight up the stairs to look through the bedrooms. Her team would wait for her and she could grab the food she had originally come for after. She just needed a few things. She just needed something to do with herself when she wasn't running teams through the wastelands. She'd always been happiest when she was in front of a mirror making sure she had her best face on.

Besides, the ghost would kill her eventually. He'd kill them all, once he got bored of taunting Valerie. 

He'd already killed Star and Dash. 

And if she was going to die too, she wanted to at least be beautiful. 

In the master bedroom, Paulina sat herself down at a vanity and used her jacket sleeve to wipe away at the layers of dust on the mirror. Seeing her face, paler than it should be with her Latin heritage and her eyes looking sunken in, she wanted to cry. The end of the world had not been kind to her--and what made it worse was that others could see it too.

A few years back she had run into Valerie while waiting in line for her rations. The "last hero" of Amity Park had been shocked to see Paulina after so long, and to see her looking so worn down. Valerie had taken her to see Damon Grey, Valerie's father and the man in charge of the ghost shield they lived under. Grey had ranted for some time, explaining how everything worked, how they were supposedly safe, and Paulina nodded along and said "Oh, I see." She made it a point to avoid the Red Huntress after that. 

Paulina didn't need people trying to reassure her that everything was fine and safe now. She especially didn't need their city to look more and more like it was pulled out of an old sci fi movie. All the towering metal spires and the flying "cars"--it was supposed to be "comforting" and instead just set her on edge. She had been told it was to make them think they were thriving, advanced even, in spite of the end of the world. Paulina thought that all their efforts were pointless. The morale it was supposed to work up in the populace only worked on the children and the idiots. She might not have been on top of things as a teenager, but Paulina wasn't an idiot. 

At the start of the year they had five teams to move about the wastelands Dark Phantom had created. Now there were only two teams left. Paulina was supposed to be the lead this time. She should have been rushing out of the house after grabbing the food in it, not sitting at a rotting vanity and shakily patting bronzer onto her face. 

"What are you doing Paulina?" 

"I'm going to be beautiful again," and only after she had spoken did she realize that she was still alone in the room and that voice was too deep and amused to be anyone from her team. She set the makeup sponge and the bronzer back down and, trembling, snatched up a dark eye shadow and a new brush. "Plea-ease let me fin, finish." Like a camp fire coming to life, Dark Phantom eased in visibility, hovering just slightly off the ground behind her. Pauline studiously continued to put on the makeup. Though her body trembled, the hand holding the makeup brush did not waver. "The eyeliner and, and the mascara next," Paulina tried to sound steadier and not so defensive but she wasn't sure she succeeded. 

"Take your time. I saved you for last." Paulina tested the eyelash curler still worked before setting it down and rolling the mascara tube in her hands to warm it up. Looming over her, Dan smirked into the mirror's reflection of them both. "You're handling this much better than the rest of our class did. After you it's only Kwan and Valerie left, correct?" 

She let out a quivering breath and then moved closer to the mirror with the mascara brush. "That dweeb from, from the AV club. The one who liked Valerie." Reminding the ghost about the prick responsible for their sci fi themed haven was the easiest thing she had done in years. 

"The red head," Dan nodded thoughtfully and leaned away from her. His smile was still mocking when he watched her finish curling her lashes. "I won't mar your face. It's your best feature, after all." 

Paulina smiled into the mirror, at herself and at Dan. Her smile was small, but genuine. "Thank you, Danny." 

His grin only twitched slightly, but remained as it was, no more or less cruel than when he first made himself visible to her. He floated forward and moved to her left, watching her reflection as she did and slowly pushed an intangible arm through her chest. "Always beautiful, Paulina. Always shallow, without a heart. I'll be making that a bit more literal." She nodded at him and her smile didn't waver because she did look beautiful. "Good bye, Paulina." 

"Good bye, Danny." 

He grabbed onto her frantically beating heart, his fingers tangible as he twisted it about to rip it from the pulsing veins in her body. Paulina died before he was able to remove the heart out of her chest completely.


End file.
